10 social media accounts of gangsters, mostly of Newton, sent for immediate closure: CP

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Ludhiana, July 10

Though gangster Sagar Newton, wanted in over 12 cases of murder, attempt to murder, arms smuggling, etc, is playing hide and seek with the police, he strongly shows his presence on social media.

Newton has several accounts on Instagram where he frequently upload videos and photographs. He posts his crime videos on social media and takes responsibility for crimes committed. With this practice, he spreads his message among the masses. His accounts are also being followed by youngsters in a large number, which in one way or other may attract them to the world of crime.

Recently, when Newton and his aides had barged into the house of Navi at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and attacked his family, the gangster had also uploaded a post on his Instagram account where he challenged the Ludhiana police. Since the grandmother of Navi had died a few weeks after the attack due to her alleged injuries, Newton’s wife Vanshika was arrested by the police on the charges of criminal conspiracy and giving shelter to her husband. However, the gangster had condemned the action of the police. He had offered that if the police would leave his wife, he would surrender, else, he would show his might as a gangster. Recently, Newton sent his aides who opened fire at the house of Navi at Karnail Singh Nagar and after the incident, the gangster had again shared a message on social media in which he claimed the responsibility for the attack. He admitted that he had sent his men to open fire at the house of Navi.

Newton had several accounts on Instagram and Facebook where he has posted several of his videos glorifying gangster culture and challenging his rivals. He even posted videos showing numbers of weapons. In some videos, he even shows his firing skills. In most of the videos, he used a song as the background music, which glorified gangs, weapons and drugs.

The gangster has several videos on his social media accounts which were shot inside jails. Even his video of being produced in a court was also made allegedly by his aides and the same was later updated on his Instagram account.

Police sources said usually police don’t deactivate accounts of gangsters as it sometimes help the police in tracing their locations. Most of their accounts were usually not being operated by them rather by their close aides only. The police shut those accounts only which were being run by fans of gangsters and not linked directly to them.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal today told The Tribune that the police had already alerted the cyber cell to take action against social media accounts of gangster Newton and other notorious criminals. “We have sent 10 social media accounts of gangsters, mostly of Newton, to the authorities concerned such as Instagram and Facebook through our cyber cell for blocking, and if they would not close the same, the police can obtain orders from court for necessary action. We will not let gangsters to glorify crime at any cost,” the CP said.

Punjab Police blocked 6K social media accounts

Last year, the Punjab Police had cracked down on social media accounts of gangsters and blocked 6,000 accounts – on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other platforms.

Accounts of gangsters such as Arshdeep Dalla and Lawrence Bishnoi were got blocked by the police on the suspicion that they are recruiting youngsters through such platforms.